Influence of Soaking Periods in Cryogenic Treatment of Tungsten Carbide

The obtained result shows that there is a significant decrease in weight loss of 8hr soaked sample out of different soaking periods but, there was no change in bulk hardness. In addition to this the formation of carbide and change in particles size was observed in SEM and XRD after cryogenic treatment. The weight loss during sliding wear test indicates the cryogenically treated tungsten carbide is more wear resistance due to increase in population density of carbides. Microstructure analysis of worn surface reflects the mechanism behind the improvement of mechanical properties.